간호법 제정안의 헌법적 의미와 입법과제

As the population ages rapidly, demand for medical and nursing services is rapidly increasing. The health care environment is also changing unpredictably. In order to effectively cope with changes in the social environment and unpredictable health care environment, changes in the disciplinary system for medical services are required. For this reason, a social agenda is steadily being formed for the enactment of a nursing law that can independently regulate the nursing field. In Korea, the movement to enact an independent nursing law has recently begun to be discussed again in the wake of COVID-19. An Nursing Bill passed the National Assembly, but the Nursing Bill was ultimately rejected as the President exercised his veto power over the bill. November 22, 2023. With the new nursing bill being proposed again, the movement to enact the nursing law is being reignited. The debate over the enactment of the Nursing Act is, on the surface, against the enactment of an ‘independent’ or ‘standalone’ Nursing Act, but in reality it is against the expansion of ‘nursing work.’ Confrontation and conflict among health and medical personnel over the enactment of the Nursing Act are reaching a peak. What must be considered first in the debate surrounding the enactment of the Nursing Act is the people's right to health and health. If the people's right to health can be guaranteed and the quality of health care services can be improved, it is natural that the professional interests of medical professionals will be retreated. Discussions on the enactment of nursing laws should begin from the perspective of the public's right to health or public health, rather than the interests of specific groups. In order to do so, it is necessary to first clearly legislatively define the role and status of nurses and the concept of medical practice in the medical field. Resolving legislative issues takes priority over enacting or passing nursing laws. The priority legislative task is to establish a clear scope for the medical areas that individual medical practitioners can perform. In order to protect the lives and health of the people as a top priority, it is necessary to clearly define the medical areas recognized by medical professionals. In addition, in order to prevent disputes over the scope of work between doctors and nurses, which are controversial surrounding the enactment of the Nursing Act, the scope of work for nurses must be clearly defined. As long as it does not shake up the current medical law system, the enactment of nursing law should not be the subject of controversy or contention between medical fields. It is sufficient to examine the issue of enacting nursing laws from the perspective of legislative principles or systems.